The Capturetheory wants to give an alternative explanation for the need of regulation. From this point if view the government does not have enough information to make an optimal regulation. There is a possibility for different interest groups to take advantage of the political arena by rent- seeking behaviour. An industry may be willing to be regulated to protect itself from competition. The objective of this paper is to account for the pros and cons of the theory of regulatory capture and also if it can be applied to the Swedish market of pharmaceuticals. The theory of regulatory capture is first and foremost a theory of the motives behind regulation. The Swedish market for pharmaceuticals has been analysed by looking into the underlying force of both the pharmaceutical industry and that of the State. There is room for the regulatory agencies to be captured by the industry because of the information provided to them by the industry. The concluding findings show that the Capture theory can applied to the Swedish market for pharmaceuticals.

The formal access of transnational actors (TNA) to international organizations (IO) has increased steadily over the past five decades, and a growing body of literature is at the moment concerned with the theoretical and normative implications of these developments. However, very little is known as of yet about who the TNAs in global governance are, where they come from, which issue areas they focus on, and when and where they choose to participate. Using analytical tools from interest group theory, in particular a subfield called population ecology, this study describes and explains the chronological development of two populations of TNAs in global governance, namely the observer communities of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. TNAs’ financial resources and their geographical proximity to global governance venues emerge as important factors influencing their capacity to participate, causing these TNA populations to be stratified and volatile.

<p>This dissertation examines the political determinants of government spending across different levels of education. What are the political motivations that drive budgetary decisions on primary, secondary, and tertiary education? Who are the beneficiaries of these appropriations? Why are they capable of influencing the decisions over appropriations?</p><p>I argue that the distribution of education spending across education levels depends on the capacity of organized groups active in this sector to make their demands heard and served by governments. Better organized groups have stronger capacity to take advantage of the electoral concerns of politicians and influence their decisions on educational budgets. I provide evidence to show that, with some exceptions, the teachers' unions in the primary and secondary schools are the most influential organized group in the education sector. By taking their demands out to the streets, by capturing key positions in the education ministries, and by using their mobilization capacity in the electoral arena, teachers have made governments cater to their economic interests, rather than direct resources in ways that would enhance access to and the quality of education.</p><p>I test the theoretical arguments using an original dataset incorporating a comprehensive account of all protests, strikes, and other disruptive actions by teachers, university workers, students, and parents in Mexico between 1992 and 2008. The statistical analysis reveals that 1) states with higher levels of teachers' protests receive larger federal education grants, and that 2) subnational authorities spend more on primary and lower secondary as a consequence of the larger disruptive behavior observed in these education levels. Complementary qualitative evidence shows how the teachers' union has captured the education ministries at the federal and the subnational levels, consolidating its influence over education policy. Finally, this study reveals the teachers' union capacity to leverage their participation in electoral politics in order to defend its economic interests.</p> / Dissertation

利益團體影響政府政策的制定，在各國均時有所聞。本文主要探討當政府面對利益團體的政治獻金操作時，在謀求社會福利水準極大下，將如何影響污染管制政策的制定。藉由 Grossman and Helpman (1994) 所建立之政治獻金模型為架構，分析利益團體如何藉由政治獻金的捐獻來達成影響政府制定最適污染管制政策的目的；並藉由此一模型分析政府如何在考量政治獻金的收入下，訂定最適污染管制政策。我們發現廠商及一般民眾所提供政治獻金的多寡及最適污染標準的高低，受到政府對全國福利水準重視的程度，及一般民眾組成利益團體的人數所影響。當一般民眾組成利益團體的人數愈多時，政府制定之最適污染標準將愈趨於嚴格，尤其全體民眾組成一共同利益團體時，最適污染標準值將與未收受政治獻金時之數值相等。然而一般而言，政府所制定最適污染標準值卻是較有利於廠商。 / This paper analyzes how the interest groups use political contributions to influence the government optimal control policy of pollution. We find that both the optimal control of the pollution and the amount of political contributions are affected by the weight that the domestic government puts on the social welfare and the population. When the weight is larger, the political contributions of interest groups will become smaller. Secondly, the more people pay attention to pollution, the more strict the optimal control of the pollution will be. Moreover, in general, the optimal control of the pollution tends to favor the manufacturer.

This dissertation builds on existing scholarship in political science and political sociology to explore the influence of interest groups in legislative action networks. The primary theoretical insight is that as the number of interest group affiliations between two members of Congress increases, so does the frequency with which they forge other sorts of social ties necessary to advance the interests of their interest group constituencies. In particular, the analysis looks at interest group donation strategies, legislative co-sponsorships, and roll-call votes during the 111th Congress (2009-2010). The analysis uses social network analysis methods to create network models of 19 different policy domains, as well as an aggregate model, for both the House and Senate. Legislator ideology, state, committee assignments, and experience have a generally significant impact on the number of interest group affiliations shared by each pair of legislators, whereas gender, race/ethnicity, office location and occupational history do not. The results show that interest groups do have consistent impact over co-sponsorships in the House, but somewhat more mixed influence in the Senate. In some instances, groups in the policy domain encourage policy change, and in other instances, status quo protection. The theory did not anticipate the latter effect, though it does make sense in context of other research findings. For roll-call votes, interest groups have a significant influence over some House policy domains but not many Senate policy domains. The increased polarization of the Senate, necessity of minority party discipline to maximize their leverage through use of the filibuster, and staggered nature of Senate elections makes interest group influence tougher to muster in the upper chamber of Congress.

Ethnic interest organizations have not been considered a salience influence on foreign policy. Traditionally, democratic theory suggests foreign policy should be determined by the will of the general population, rather that the limited and segregated interests of minority groups. Specifically in Canadian foreign policy, ethnic groups have also had limited access to decision-makers because of increased centralization of Canadian foreign policy. In contrast, the literature on Canada-India relations suggests there is an important foreign policy impact by the large, economically progressive Indo-Canadian Diaspora which has actively attempted to improve relations between these states. This dissertation addresses this obvious contrast, showing how the community has overcome the challenges traditionally associated with ethnic groups and foreign policy. Centrally, the research finds that Indo-Canadians have been active and successful foreign policy participants, influencing implementation, perceptions-editing and direct foreign policy between the two countries. This is determined by two characteristics: first, the Harper government’s decision to actively improve economic relations with New Delhi has opened important cess points for the Indo-Canadian community. Give their intimate knowledge of India’s business and economic environment, the Diaspora has been involved in various overseas missions, consultations and networking between the Canadian government and various stakeholders. Second, ethnic group influence is determined by the community’s internal organization, including the composition of their membership, financial resources and political strategies. With these characteristics, the dissertation assesses three interest organizations: the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC), the Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC) and the Canada-India Foundation (CIF). By conducting a within-case analysis, it finds that each organization has a niche role within Canada-India relations – in Diaspora representation (ICCC), business and trade relations (C-IBC) and policy-related advocacy (CIF). Centrally, this dissertation speaks to the evolving relations between the state and society in Canadian foreign policy. It offers a challenge to earlier work in this field, resulting in theoretical, methodological and policy-oriented advancement of a nascent body of literature, suggesting avenues for further investigation.

Nors lobizmas Lietuvoje buvo įtvirtintas 2001 metais, priėmus Lietuvos Respublikos Lobistinės veiklos įstatymą, iki šiol lietuvių teisinėje literatūroje nebuvo skiriama daug dėmesio lobizmo kaip instituto suderinamumui su Konstitucijos 59 straipsnio 4 dalyje įtvirtintu principu, jog Seimo nariai savo darbe turi vadovautis valstybės interesu. Lobizmas dažniausiai yra nagrinėjamas politikos mokslų kontekste kaip grupių interesų perdavimo priemonė. Teisinėje literatūroje yra straipsnių analizuojančių Lobistinės veiklos įstatymą, jo veikimą ar neveikimą bei kitus lobizmo įtvirtinimo aspektus. Visgi lobizmo ir konstitucinio principo, jog Seimo nariai savo darbe turi vadovautis valstybės interesu suderinamumo problema kyla tada, kai interesų grupės, pasitelkdamos lobistus, siekia savo siaurų interesų, kurie prieštarauja valstybės interesui, patenkinimo. Taigi priėmus lobizmą įteisinančius įstatymus (leidus privačioms interesų grupėms tiesiogiai daryti įtaką leidžiamajai valdžiai) kyla reali grėsmė, kad bus pažeistas Konstitucijoje įtvirtintas principas, jog įstatymų leidėjai turi vadovautis valstybės, o ne privačiais interesais. Šis baigiamasis darbas ir yra skiriamas ištirti šių dviejų institutų suderinamumą, jų reglamentavimą ir interpretavimą, nurodyti ryškiausius probleminius aspektus ir pateikti samprotavimus, kurie galėtų būti pagalbine medžiaga kitiems, susidomėjusiems šios problemos sprendimu. Tyrimo objektas – Lobistinė veikla, kuria pagal galiojančius teisės aktus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / While lobbying in Lithuania was legitimised in 2001, after passing the Law on Lobbying Activities, up until this day legal scholars in Lithuania have not made any researches about compatibility of lobbying with the constitutional principle that legislators must act according to the state interests. Lobbying is usually examined in the context of political science as a vehicle for transmission of group interests. In legal literature some scholars analyse functionality of the Law on Lobbying Activities, but other problems of lobbying are not being analysed. This problem of compatibility lobbying and constitutional principle that legislators must act according to the state interests arise when interest groups, through lobbyists, try to satisfy their own selfish needs which are against state interests. So because the Law on Lobbying Activities was passed (private groups were allowed to influence government representatives) there is a real danger that constitutional principle which obliges legislators to act according to the state interests, not according to the private interest will be breached. This thesis is intended to investigate the compatibility of these two institutes, their regulation and to show some of the most problematic aspects which arises while trying to compare these two institutes. The object of this thesis is lobbying activities, which are in accordance with existing legislation and intended to affect the legislative decisions, and its compatibility with the... [to full text]

The aim of this thesis is to understand the decision-making processes concerning ice-breaking along the coast of Norrland, with the specific aim to analyse the activities of regional interest groups in the Norrland region and government agents at different administrative levels at the key stages of the decision-making processes: initiation, drafting and decision-making. The thesis also explores how institutional factors at different administrative levels affected the agents that were involved at those stages of the decision-making processes. As navigation along the northern Swedish coast must negotiate winter conditions which causes ports to freeze over, the government ice-breaking service functions as an instrument to compensate the export firms in Norrland for these constrains. Year-round navigation in the north Swedish coastal waters was achieved through a series of decision-making processes that took place during the period from 1940 to 1975. These decision-making processes are important to study since ice-breaking was an integrated component of the expanding heavy basic industries in Norrland and thereby for the rapidly growing exports during the 1950s and 1960s. This period is the decisive point in the economic history of the Norrland region regarding how the natural resources should be exploited and how exports should be advanced. This study concludes that the decision-making processes were initiated by government agents at different administrative levels. Official investigatory commissions were set up at several occasions to deal with issues related to the government ice-breaker service by the ministries responsible for ice-breaker policy. It is also demonstrated that the decision-making processes concerning ice-breaker investments were initiated by the government boards that were responsible for the operation of the ice-breaker service. In this respect, the study concludes that the government activities during the initiation stages should not be confused as a sign of regional interest group passivity on these issues. The activities of the interest groups during the initiation stages were primarily intended to draw attention to the problems caused by winter to regional shipping, in order to put the issue on the political agenda. As the decision-making processes proceeded into the drafting stages, the participation from regional interest groups was much more significant as the government offered interest groups forums and procedures for structural consulting through various organisational arrangements. The regional interest groups that participated in those arrangements were industrial firms in the heavy basic industries sector. In those cases other regional interest groups participated, they would promote the interests of those firms. As a result, the final drafts from committees and government bodies included arguments that favoured an expansion of ice-breaking to promote the growth of the heavy basic industries in the Norrland region. The analysis of the decision-making stages suggests that a combination of institutional factors at different administrative levels contributed to the outcome of the decision-making processes. One result is that the general aims of macro policy such as trade policy, growth policy and regional development policy were favourable towards an expansion of the government ice-breaker service, which would benefit the export industries in the Norrland region. Another result is that the sectoral organization within the government maritime bodies contributed significantly to the outcome of the decision-making processes. Large-scale planning and operational experimentation was allowed to take place within the ice-breaker service, which convinced the government that ice-breaking and winter navigation was a feasible transport alternative.

La Tunisie a longtemps été un laboratoire de recherches pour les sociologues occidentaux sur l'apport des sciences sociales dans un pays du Maghreb. Toutefois ces études sociologiques restent encore centrées sur une période très précise qui dénotait l'existence d'un pouvoir autoritaire et les abus du gouvernement. Le débat occidental s'est alors cristallisé sur la forme du régime et les contestations protestataires en Tunisie. Il a fallu attendre le 13 Janvier 2011 lors du discours au palais de Carthage, pour que la question de la remise en question se pose sans équivoque. Le président Ben Ali avait atteint avec cet ultime affront aux citoyens tunisiens, les limites de son autorité abusive. Au 14 Janvier 2011, la fuite du président déchu Ben Ali a consommé la rupture avec l'ancien régime et a créé ce phénomène que l'on nomme à tort ou à raison la transitologie. Pour la première fois dans le pays, les élections étaient ouvertes à différentes catégories socio-professionnelles, de cultures politiques différentes, à tous les partis hormis le RCD ancien parti du régime, et aux femmes comme aux hommes. Cette initiative a créé un tel engouement, que le jour d’entrée des élus parlementaires au sein du Palais du Bardo, il était nécessaire de déterminer qui étaient ces nouveaux locataires du palais. C’est ainsi que débutent ces travaux de recherche / Tunisia has been, for a long time, a research laboratory for Western sociologists in terms of the contribution of social sciences in a Maghreb country. However, these sociological studies are still focused on a very precise period which pointed out the existence of an authoritarian power and the abuses of the government. The Western debate then froze on the form of the regime and protests in Tunisia. It was not until January 13, 2011 that the issue of questioning arises unequivocally, during the speech at the palace of Carthage. President Ben Ali had reached the limits of his abusive authority with this ultimate outrage to Tunisian citizens. On January 14, 2011, the flight of the deposed President Ben Ali consumed the break with the old regime and created this phenomenon that is rightly or wrongly called transitology. For the first time in the country, elections were open to different socio-professional categories, from different political cultures, to all parties except the former RCD party of the regime, and to both women and men. This initiative has created such a craze, that the day of entry of elected MPs in the Palace of Bardo, it was necessary to determine who were these new tenants of the palace. This is how this research begins

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar o cenário e os processos políticos que culminaram com a alteração do antigo Código Florestal Brasileiro (Lei Federal nº 4.771/1965), revogado pela Lei Federal nº 12.651/2012. Busca-se identificar quais foram os fatores que levaram a essa alteração, os principais atores e grupos de interesse que atuaram nas coalizões denominadas de ambientalistas e ruralistas, bem como os argumentos e recursos de poder empregados. Partiu-se do pressuposto de que prevaleceram os interesses privados, em especial dos grupos de interesse do agronegócio, em relação aos interesses da coletividade e que dizem respeito à conservação ambiental. Foram utilizados como ponto de partida metodológica os modelos de Laswell (1936) para entender \"quem ganha o que, porquê e que diferença isso faz\", de coalizões de defesa de Sabatier (1988) e de múltiplos fluxos de Kingdon (2007), bem como o ciclo e as dimensões das políticas públicas de Frey (2000). Para a análise foram utilizados documentos jurídicos, estudos científicos, manifestos públicos, matérias da mídia e postagens nas redes sociais, além de entrevistas semiabertas. Evidenciouse que a atuação da bancada ruralista foi imprescindível na alteração da lei e que esta priorizou interesses privados, em especial dos setores produtivos agropecuários, em detrimento aos interesses públicos e coletivos. O estudo mostra ainda que a polarização entre as coalizões ambientalistas e ruralistas silenciou outros conflitos socioambientais que são recorrentes nos espaços públicos brasileiros. Também foi possível verificar que, embora a questão ambiental tenha se popularizado, ganhando espaço nas agendas governamentais, quando não é tratada de maneira utilitarista, há prevalência de um discurso em que o meio ambiente parece ser uma externalidade e até mesmo um empecilho para o desenvolvimento econômico do país. / This work seeks to analyze the context and the political processes that had led to the alteration from the old Brazilian Forest Code, (Federal Law nº 4.771/1965), repealed by Federal Law No. 12,651 / 2012. The aim is to appoint what were the factors that had led to this alteration, the main actors and the interest groups that had worked in coalitions known as environmentalists and ruralists, as well as arguments and power resources. Our initial assumption was that private interests prevailed. The methodological starting point utilized was the models of Laswell (1936) used to understand \"Who gets what\'s, why and what different it makes\", Sabatier´s advocacy coalitions approach (1988) and Kingdon\'s multiple stream model (2007), as well as the cycle and dimensions of public policy by Frey (2000). Documents, scientific studies, public manifests, media materials and posts on social network and interviews have been used in this analysis. The action of the rural caucus was vital on the alteration of the law, prioritizing. Agricultural Productive Sectors interests became evident. The study still shows that the polarization between environmental and rural caucus silenced other socio-environmental conflicts which are common in the Brazilian public spaces. It was also possible to observe that, although the environmental issue had been popularized, receiving attention in governmental agendas, there is still a prevalence of a speech in which the environment seems to be an externality and even a hindrance to economic development.